Middlesborough - 3 Manchester United - 1:SOCCER/English Premiership: When Manchester United lost 3-1 at Maine Road 47 days ago Alex Ferguson said the defeat could have historic implications for a team that had grown up together in the 1990s. Yesterday a man called Job, Joseph-Desire, gave Ferguson and all at Old Trafford an unwelcome reminder that the theme of future employment is still a pertinent one.
"There's only one job on Teesside," sang the Middlesbrough fans deliriously after the Cameroonian had capped another spiky personal display with the 86th-minute tap-in that completed the scoring and ended United's pursuit of an equaliser. In terms of United's personnel plans another 3-1 defeat may prove less dramatic than the one at Manchester City, but this nevertheless seemed a pivotal moment in the championship.
Boro manager Steve McClaren wasn't too convinced about the importance of the result, saying that there were "many twists and turns" to come. "This league is strange," he said. "Everybody is beating everybody else." He may be right but it is unquestionably Arsenal's championship to lose now.
Arsene Wenger's players saw a pretty special day get better as it went on, and Arsenal are seven points in front of United this morning. Ferguson's men have now won only twice away from home in the Premiership, compared with Arsenal's four, and United have yet to travel to Highbury, St James' Park and St Mary's, Southampton.
Ferguson has always maintained that no side can win the title if they lose more than six games, and, if Arsenal are to be overhauled, that means United can lose only once more in 18 remaining fixtures.
Roy Keane may have been back from the start yesterday, and David Beckham and Rio Ferdinand by the final whistle, but so too were gaps at the back. Mikael Silvestre missed his first game in 11 with a neck injury. Laurent Blanc played ahead of Ferdinand.
Boro, who will be without the midfielder George Boateng until February after a cartilage operation, took their time to exploit the space, but Job and Szilard Nemeth in particular seized their openings when they came. Nemeth's strike three minutes after the interval was the most painful for United. Out of nothing the Slovakian swept past Blanc and John O'Shea to drive past Fabien Barthez at his near post. It was all too easy.
Until Alen Boksic chipped Barthez in first-half injury time the game had been a boxing match without punches. It was the 37th minute before either goalkeeper made a save and until then it had been a pattern styled by defenders. Gareth Southgate was like a coat hanger up the back of Ruud van Nistelrooy's shirt, and Boksic was buried so deep in Wes Brown's pocket he might have been hibernating.
But then the Croat awoke and the afternoon changed. Boksic responded to Franck Queudrue's surge toward United's area and, drifting on to a neat pass, peeled away from Blanc and floated the ball over Barthez and inside the upright.
United had been comfortable without threatening but after Nemeth zipped in they were seriously destabilised and Boksic narrowly failed to make it 3-0 from Queudrue's diagonal pass. Then Ryan Giggs, anonymous hitherto and thereafter, made it 2-1 when he rounded off Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's centre and the visitors sensed a way back.
There was a van Nistelrooy tumble, a Beckham free-kick and a partial sense of siege, but Boro resisted, then broke away. Geremi and the substitute Massimo Maccarone helped Job finish the contest and, perhaps, United's interest in the title.
Ferguson blamed his own side for the defeat, saying: "Well, 3-1 is a bad scoreline considering the possession of the ball we had and I think in the first half, we've really thrown it away, the amount of possession we had and the great opportunities at the edge of their box. We didn't have the concentration to capitalise. They got a breakaway in the last minute of the half and then right immediately after half-time, we lost another goal, and it made it an uphill fight."
Ferguson, defended his decision to bring on Ferdinand as an attacker late on in the game.
"When you're trying to claw something back from a game, it's always worth trying," he said. "We've done that many times in the past. Steve Bruce has ended up there, Gary Pallister. Over the years, we've done that many times. Laurent Blanc did it last season a couple of times and I think it's always worth a risk to get a point."
Ferguson's former number two McClaren was delighted after clinching his third win in five attempts since leaving Old Trafford, although he insisted he has no Indian sign over his old club.
"I wouldn't say that," he said. "We're just concentrating on what we're doing and I'm pleased today for the players because of the performance and the belief now.
"Where can we go once we sort out our away form? Who knows!"
Guardian Service
MIDDLESBROUGH: Schwarzer, Queudrue, Ehiogu, Southgate, Parnaby, Greening, Wilson, Job, Geremi, Nemeth (Maccarone 83), Boksic (Wilkshire 63). Subs Not Used: Vidmar, Windass, Crossley. Booked: Job. Goals: Boksic 44, Nemeth 48, Job 85.
MAN UTD: Barthez, Gary Neville (Beckham 72), Blanc, Brown, O'Shea (Ferdinand 83), Giggs, Keane, Veron, Scholes, van Nistelrooy, Solskjaer. Subs Not Used: Phil Neville, Ricardo, Forlan. Booked: Scholes. Goals: Giggs 60.
Referee: G Barber (Hertfordshire).
